VII.6
Herculaneum, on right, then VII.5, VII.4, VII.3, VII.2, VII.1 and then
crossroads with Decumanus Inferiore.

May
2010. Looking south along Cardo III Superiore.

Waldstein
and Shoobridge wrote

“Before
leaving the town proper, we must say something of the small portion excavated
in the nineteenth century, and still exposed, often called the “Scavi Nuovi”.

This
part of the city sloped steeply to the south-west and ended in a sharp cliff;
and strong and elaborate subterranean rooms were needed to keep the last houses
level. Two streets were laid bare, crossing one another at right angles. That
running down to the sea has a fine vaulted drain, 0.60m broad and 1.05m high,
fed by various small drains and gutters. At the edge of the cliff it empties
into a well-shaped opening of unknown depth, but certainly more than three
metres.”

“The
whole of sea street was strewn with fragments of bronze statues, human and
equine, of various scales and there was also found a small silver bust of
Galba, in tiny fragments, now carefully put together and in the Museo
Nazionale”. (inventory number 110127, and see p.659 in Ruggiero, Scavi, etc.,
(record of 11 September 1874).

This
portion of the site had been considerably tunnelled by the eighteenth-century
excavators, and many of the larger works of art had been removed.

However,
a marble bust, several pictures and a number of bronze statuettes were
unearthed, and an almost bewildering number of domestic antiquities of the
highest interest. These included not only fine bronze and clay vessels but a
great variety of wooden objects: for example, a wooden chest of drawers, with
bronze fittings, unfortunately empty. (See Ruggiero, Storia degli Scavi….
p.588, May 14 1869). There were also found a quantity
of nets, ropes, cords, eatables, etc.

See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli
scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli, Naples: Nicola Longobardi.
(p.227-231 for various objects found in this area and found at differing
heights during the excavation of the roadway).